Ladies and Gentlemen, Our President

Anyone who doubts that our president has serious balls should check out his Q+A at Friday's Republican Retreat. It was a take-all-comers intellectual ass-whupping, on live TV. We need more honest encounters like this - in which politicians from both sides call each other on their bullshit until they're having an actual conversation. We have so many problems to tackle right now, and spouting talking points at press conferences isn't going to get us anywhere.

Frank Rich on Michael Steele: "Clownish Like a Fox"

As Frank Rich points out in the NYTimes, conservatives like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Michael Steele are making serious money off of the "Tea Party" movement. Palin is reportedly being paid $120,000 to speak at the Tea Party convention, Beck uses his viewers' apocalyptic fears to sell them gold coins, and Steele is using his status as the Republican Party's appointed Obama-fighter to sell his book and "speaking skills" to the largely Obama-hating Tea Partiers. For Steele, this is another example of his taking advantage of his unique position as by far the most well-known African American in the Republican party. He's been calling out others for "displaying racism" and "playing the race card" while gleefully doing both himself. He offered Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal "slum love," claimed that he would use "fried chicken" to attract minority voters, and, my personal favorite, used the phrase "honest Injun" in a television interview.

Come On . . . Windfall Tax!

Democrats need to implement some strategic populism if they want to escape the November 2010 anti-incumbent wave, and bashing big banks could be the solution. And there's reason to hope that they'll implement practical actions, rather than just rhetoric. The NY Times reports that President Obama will attempt to recoup as much as $120 billion of the $700 billion financial bailout. How he'll do it is uncertain, but a windfall tax on profits, such as the British are considering, could be just what taxpayers and voters need.